Let the Renovation BEGIN...

The grand plan was to put our girls together in the same room. Visions of sisterly bonding, late night giggles, learning to share, blahblahblah filled my head for as long as I can remember. When we "met" MeiMei in March and realized the girls were 21 months apart I KNEW it was the perfect arrangement. I called it Operation Jie Mei Hwa (beautiful sisters)... ahhh... insert dreamy sigh here...

Fast forward to Thursday, September 24 (the night we returned from China)... WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING? Those visions of sisterly shenanigans have been replaced with family sleep deprivation. WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE--ANYONE--TELL ME THAT WAS THE DUMBEST IDEA I'VE EVER HAD???? One of the many things no one told me before we brought MeiMei home was that sleeping issues for adopted children can be BRUTAL. It's different than teaching my other babies to sleep. Everything has changed in MeiMei's world and apparently sleeping is extremely stressful. Trying to get an 18 month old to sleep in a brand new world feels impossible at times. Add to that a 3 year old light sleeper in the same room and you've got yourself a recipe for disaster. Bless LMs heart, she's been displaced from her nice comfy bed to the old futon in the bonus room ever since. Each attempt to get them to sleep together in the same room goes something like this...

MOMMY, Why is MeiMei screaming/yelling/laughing/kicking/looking at me? MeiMei, be quiet/still/stop staring and GO TO SLEEP! Mommy, help me! Mommy, make her ____________. Mommy, she's hurting my ears!

If I attempt to take a screaming/yelling/laughing/kicking/staring MeiMei out of the room, Little Miss thinks it's time to get up as well. "Why does SHE get to get up and I don't?" "Why do I have to take a nap and she doesn't?" "Is it time for breakfast yet?" Ugh... see what I mean?

After much thought I came up with a great solution (and believe me I've spent many 2 a.m.'s thinking about how to fix this problem over the past two months) . The Chief doubted my architectural design skills but I do believe I've hit this one out of the park. Oh ye husband of little faith. Meet the playroom...
I can't believe I'm sharing this photo for all the world to see. Technically it's the bonus room--the GINORMOUS bonus room. It's always a mess because it's huge and they never notice until it looks like a tornado went through. Initially this room was to be the "little girl suite" but the Chief hated the idea after we built the house and wanted the girls to share a bedroom. Moving is not an option. Teaching our 20 month old daughter how to sleep through the night without waking the other girls in the house is apparently not an option. Leaving Little Miss on the futon is not an option. Using the wasted space playroom more efficiently--now THAT is a GREAT idea! We have the space. Why not use it?

Today is Day 1 of Operation Little Miss. Can I tell you I've never been so excited about a wall in my life? That's right. A WALL. Over the next 10-13 business days, our playroom is going to become 40% playroom...and 60% Little Miss' bedroom... Bring on the sawdust and the drywall and the paint fumes and the brick mason and the... Well, you get the idea. I may lose my mind between now and Christmas but when it's over we're all going to reap the rewards. Stay tuned...

Happy Love Day...

A special breakfast for the little Valentines...

A huge batch of Rice Krispie treats we made together...

and lots of yummy Valentine treats for their school friends...

Lunch box boredom?

To all of my Mommy friends who struggle (like I do) in lunch box planning...

Check this out. I love this woman and I don't even know her! Now, I'm not saying my J would eat the food in her child's lunch box but it's still a great idea to imitate. Have fun!

P.S. I am in the process of updating the blog. I still have posts from June until today. Sorry guys. It was the summer of J around here. I'll post when I'm finished...give me a few days...

Joining the Mistreatment Club...

We interrupt the current blog hiatus to inform you of my new membership status: the "Mistreatment Club". What is a mistreatment you ask? The Nester explains in her own words...

Mistreatment: (n). covering for a window that is quick, cheap and pretty. may or may not need hardware does not require sewing. a real designer's worst nightmare.

Mistreating: (v). the act of treating a window with dignity and respect without use of the following: hundreds of dollars, sewing, time, crying, divorce, child neglect...

Unfortunately, I can't say this entire window treatment is a mistreatment but at least half of it is. So, I'm pretending to be a full fledged member of this club even though this probably only constitutes part time status. I guess the Nester will have to decide.

The cast of characters:

-Two wooden plates from Hobby Lobby, 5/8 dowel rod, one Handy Manny (um, I mean hubby), a big power drill and some fancy drill bit that hubby just HAD to have to make this work
-10 perfectly fancy drawer pulls from Hobby Lobby (on sale 50% off)

-left over pink paint, a strong arm to push in the drawer pulls, a little Sumo glue to fix the drawer pulls that Handy Manny broke while using his strong arm and TAAADAAAAHHHH!!!!

-10 mistreated ties (cut, folded, ironed and ends snipped after they were tied...why sew something that is going to be on the ceiling?)
-2 of my FAVORITE flat sheets from PB Kids (pretty and pink with a touch of Asian inspiration--the girls will share a room), the girliest fringe I could find, and a friend named Stacey who loves to sew

**This is the part where I become a part time MC member...they are for the girls room and needed to be lined with blackout. If you are going to line them you might as well make them beautiful, right?**
-The window before (with a crazy haired, blue paci sporting baby girl and an ugly ladder because I didn't want to ask Handy Manny to move it for a photo op--by this point he was OVER my mistreatment)
-The finished product. Isn't it a great feeling when something in your mind becomes a reality? They are EXACTLY what I envisioned. I double knotted the ties around the dowel rod, hooked the drapery hooks into the tie and cut the ends of the ties into a "v". Don't they look precious with the crystal chandelier?

I can't wait to finish this room for my girls. Some day, I'm sure they will want a room of purple and yellow fluorescent stripes but for now they are going to have the prettiest little girl room I can dream (on a budget, of course). When I'm finished, I hope they love it as much as their Mommy.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my mistreatment and remember...

It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful!